


Black Swan

by Fabelhaft (Blue_Blood_Monarch)



Series: Avengers Shorts [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt Tony, M/M, Past Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 15:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16177724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Blood_Monarch/pseuds/Fabelhaft
Summary: After Siberia, after the Civil war, after everything the Rogues have done Tony decides that it's time to move on.OrTony Stark's journey to healing, with the help of his family.





	Black Swan

**Author's Note:**

> Whooo more procrastination lol
> 
> Tell you what, three hour long maths exams suck!

_“Now there's nothing more than this_

_A lonely sky amongst the mist_

_Now you're gone_

_My black swan I know there's nothing left to say_

_But if you ever fly my way_

_Sing your song Now you're gone_

_Love so strong_

_My black swan”_

\- The Struts, Black Swan

 

The Rogues.

 

Ask the public and they’d tell you that they were reckless, arrogant and dangerous. That they showed a staggering disregard for the collateral damage of their actions through their ‘superhero’ careers. Especially during the ‘Civil War’, in Lagos, Germany, Bucharest. Hundreds, _thousands_ , of lives needlessly lost, innocents caught between Captain America and his precious Winter Soldier.

 

Ask the American Government and they would tell you that they were dangerous individuals working outside of the law, no longer recognised by the states; they were exiled, condemned, before the UN, before the _world_.

 

Ask Colonel James Rhodes, or even Virginia Potts, and they would tell you that they were selfish, traitorous bastards that used those around them and bled them dry until they stabbed them in the back, leaving death, pain and destruction in their wake.

 

Ask the Rogues themselves, and they will tell you that they were fighting for the ‘greater good’, that they were justified, that they were _heroes_. They wouldn’t tell you about the lives they took, wouldn’t tell you what the ‘greater good’ was, in this case. Just that Bucky Barnes needed protecting and the Captain would be damned if he let anyone near him, consequences be damned.

 

And it was all due to Captain America’s stubbornness, his tunnel-vision, obsessive fixation upon his friend, his tie to his life before.

 

His achilles heel.

 

There was one single thing for everyone- though, perhaps, more for those antisocial members of society- that they would burn the world for. A cost at which they would raze the world, destroy society, _everything_. Tony had called this a person’s Pandora Box, the thing that they would wreck destruction upon the world for. Steve Rogers’ was Bucky Barnes, though Tony secretly, hopefully, stupidly, thought that, perhaps- just maybe- he could be Steve’s Pandora. His box, his world, just like he was Tony’s. But no, he would never be anything more than a glorified sugar daddy. And he didn’t even get the sugar these days, especially from them.

 

So, as that shield crushed his chest, forcing the metal of the suit to slice into his skin, breaking ribs, barely missing the arc reactor, all of that hope, that love, he held for Steve, was crushed with it. Mangled, just like his body, it perished, unable to survive. It left him with a gaping chasm, a great emptiness, that, some days, felt like it was a black hole with how it threatened to consume him.

 

But he refused. He refused to let himself give into it, so he did what he did best; he _fought_. He fought with everything he did, filling it his love for his family, for his bots, for everything he had once taken for granted. He got better, and, for what seemed like the first time ever, he finally felt like he could be happy.

 

So, he moved on; left Steve and the Rogues behind. He didn’t need them anymore, and they obviously didn’t need him, so he was finally able to breathe, to grow into a better person, and he did. For him, for the kids, for Rhodey, Pepper, Happy. For his mother.

 

So when the Rogues resurfaced after 18 whole months, he couldn’t find it within himself to care, to bring himself to contact them. He just watched them become vigilantes, fugitives to the law, and was content.

 

They had become strangers to him, and, though sad, it felt good.

 

He was free.

 

He was happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Ta for reading, mates, hope you enjoyed. It was a little thing I've had in my head for a while, so I thought why not actually flesh it out. Even though I'm working on like three multi-chapter fics rn haha
> 
> Please leave me some kudos to help me get through exams lol


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